Chapter 5: Regroup

Sam returned to find Alex staring off in space playing with one of the pages, his expression unreadable. Sam had successfully found sheet music in one of the old desks and now he could play it later. There was more back in the office where he had come from so he wouldn't be stuck replaying the same song over and over at least. He sat down in the armchair adjacent to Alex not wanting to leave him alone with a ghost on the loose. He knew everyone else was huddled in the living room or at least he hoped they'd stayed there.

Sam had begun to miss his moms and his home and the strays that roamed the streets. He fed them all, a little out of pity and a little out of genuine love of animals. His heart ached a little. It had been nearly 2 days since he had appeared here. He had never been away from home this long. He knew his moms had noticed that he was gone but he had this sinking feeling that they wouldn't be found, not by natural means anyway. The house, or the ghost, or whatever it was that was keeping them there would have to let them go first.

He'd tried his phone the day before and none of the messages had been sent. It wasn't like he could tell anyone where he was anyway because he didn't even know himself. He'd been the first to arrive here and he still didn't have a clue how and he wished he knew why. He raked his hand through his sandy brown hair with a sigh. He'd seen Courtney arrive and Tracy too. He'd arrived in a similar manner to Courtney. He'd woken up in the library and had time to explore before everyone else arrived. He knew that Luke fell from the ceiling which he found kind of hilarious but he still wondered how Alex wound up in the cabinet.

Out of all of them he kind of felt bad for Alex. Alex didn't strike him as very social. He figured the quiet of the library would be comforting in a way to Alex and he’d been right because Alex was no longer as tense or guarded as he had been downstairs. Alex snapped back to reality at some point and began fidgeting with his sleeves at some point. He looked over at Sam without a peep.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Alex gently poked his shoulder after a while, eyeing him. The book had been placed aside and Alex had actually been watching him for the past few minutes. Not that Sam had noticed.

Pov Change

Courtney paced the length of the living room. She shouldn't have gone off alone earlier. She regretted not asking Alex and Sam to go with her. She hated ghosts and just the supernatural in general. She didn't do horror movies or zombie tv shows or vampire novels. She definitely didn't want to live one out. She was tired and hungry. She didn't know if there was food here or not and she didn't want to go off on her own again.

Luke was still trying to get his jacket down but this time he was using an old cane he'd found to try and get it down. His light brown hair bounced each time that he did and the entire scene had Tracy dying of laughter. Courtney couldn't help but giggle as she laid eyes on the scene. Alex was right when he said Luke wasn't getting it down without a ladder or something. The chandelier was fairly high up and the jacket was caught on one of the curved gold bars that held the light bulbs.

The sun had begun setting outside and the bright orangish pink hue caught Courtney's attention. It had been one day and her mom hadn't messaged or at least her phone hadn't received the message if her mom did happen to try and reach her. Her mom was the one person she looked up to. She'd successfully built an empire and Courtney hoped one day to do her mother proud. If she ever got out of here that is.

There was a sharp whistle that passed through the house and there was a draft somewhere that sent a chill up her spine. She wrapped her light pink nylon jacket tighter around herself. It was creepy. A sort of quiet calm had settled around the manor but she couldn't help but feel as if she were being watched.

Tracy and Luke were talking about NFL teams on the far side of the room but Courtney wasn't paying attention. She didn't feel social. She just wanted to get out of here and forget about everything. She knew it was rude because everyone was rather sweet but the ghost just freaked her out beyond her wits. She put on a good poker face though since no one else had noticed just how freaked out she was. It could have been worse though. At least she hadn't been thrown around like a ragdoll like Luke and Tracy had been.

Pov Change

Alex and Sam left the library when they noticed the sun was setting outside. Alex had suggested they all stick together even while they were asleep. Something about it being safer and Sam had to agree. He didn't think the others would want to go off on their own, especially this late at night. Alex had also made a suggestion that they gather some pillows and blankets for everyone and take them to the living room in case the others had in fact stuck together.

Most of the bedrooms were locked and the ones that they could get into were all far too dusty for them to take anything from. Sam had kept sneezing whenever they entered any of the bedrooms and each time he'd received a quiet “Bless you” from Alex.

Sam usually hated long silences but he didn't mind so much with Alex. He understood that some people preferred silence, books, or their own imagination to actual human interaction. Alex was just one of those kids. They were some of the most interesting people in Sam's eyes at least.

Sam suddenly stopped at one of the linen closets in the hall, pulling himself from his own thoughts, and opened it. Inside were beautiful midnight blue colored blankets which barely had any dust collected on them. They were fairly easy to dust out, so were the pillows. Satisfied Alex and Sam headed off downstairs arms loaded down with blankets and pillows for everyone.